(AN: Well, here we are finally getting to the end of this 1st level story. I've heard some feedback that Ana has kind of taken a backseat to this take on Frozen, but this is all about perspective. In the original movie it was told from Ana and (to a lesser degree) Kristoff's perspective, where now it is mostly from the Exiles and the Damned perspective with some Elsa thrown in. I've completely eliminated some elements of the original movie (The trolls *cough* biglippedaligatormoment *cough*) but wanted a fairly concise story with some elements of Disney and Spec Ops: the Line the multiplayer for good measure. It is at it's heart a shipping for Lt. Bradley and Elsa, but like Agabrah this is just the 1st level of the game, so to speak. I am thinking of going in a different direction from Zulu Squad No Tsukaima, whereas in that it emulated the light novel format of having hundreds of chapters and several story arcs, I'm thinking about doing each Disney Crossover as a separate story, each tied in to the over-arcing storyline but independent of itself. That way if for some reason I get bored with the plot I can simply accelerate the Big Bad's plans and finish the story off without abandoning the fic. Anyways, let me know what you think, and which area of the Disney verse the Damned and the Exiles should go next.
To paraphrase Walker: "Arendelle is runnin' out of time gentlemen, let's move..."
(A small clearing approxminately 3 klicks west of Arendelle, 0635 hours local time)
The military HUMVEE growled as it navigated the slushy, muddy path flanked by snow-laden fir trees on either side. The truck's highbeams easily pierced the snowstorm, and illuminated an opening in the forest, where the angry red glow of a fire could be seen. The HUMVEE rumbled to a stop just 5 meters shy of the clearing, and the passenger door opened up revealing Captain Pilton. The leader of the 'Damned' faction of the 33rd was smoking a cigarette as he dismounted, but he didn't move right away.
Captain 'Wild Bill' Pilton stood still and outwardly calm, the only motion was his nostrils flaring as the cigarette perched on his lips glowed. But inwardly the captain was seething with tranquil fury at the outcome of what should have been a routine snatch and grab. Of the 100 or so heavily armed men that accompanied their Kilo Company advisors up the Joutenheimen Mountains to apprehend the Snow Witch, only a mere dozen came back, and of that less than half were completely unscathed. The rest were badly wounded; Prince Hans himself was a mess, having to be supported by Lt. Perkins as PFC Cooper administered first aid.
Pilton's gaze flicked over to the audience as he exhaled smoke through his mouth.
"I should have sent the whole Kilo cadre up there and left Pretty Boy and his babysitters behind."
He finished off his cigarette and tossed the butt.
"This is what I get for playing by the rules..."
Pilton watched as his men set Prince Hans down on a large fallen tree trunk, then Cooper approached. The young sniper stood at attention and saluted, the captain returned the salute.
"Report, private."
Cooper relaxed slightly and spoke.
"Mission was a failure, sir."
The leader of Kilo Company allowed himself a small if grim smile.
"I ascertained as much, Coop. What happened?"
The private paused for a moment and patted his breast pocket absently, but Pilton reached into his own pocket and produced his packet of cigarettes. He offered Cooper a cigarette, which the private took gratefully, his gloved hands shaking as he lit and took a drag. The tremors were not because of the cold.
"Sir, it was a clusterfuck," Cooper began as he exhaled smoke from his mouth.
"We-we had the element of surprise, but Prince Hans rushed in against Barrigan's judgement, an' walked into an ambush."
Pilton nodded at the bloodied remnants of Han's men. They were swathed in gauze bandages from the 'Damned's med kits, but the wounds were all too familiar to him, and any other member of Kilo Company.
"Something tells me those poor bastards didn't get wiped out by a shower of icicles, Coop."
The young sniper shook his head.
"That's a negative. Els-I mean the Snow Witch had backup...looks like the Exiles are here, sir."
Pilton snorted.
"That's not much of a surprise, given our intel..."
He continued.
"...But I am surprised that goody-two shoes Long would have sided with the Snow Witch."
The leader of the 'Damned' paused as his gaze turned towards the audience.
"Actually, I'm not really that surprised. I knew Long and his Exiles would be playing the other side, why else would our 'Benefactor' side us with Prince Pretty Boy here?"
He pulled out another cigarette from his pack and lit it with his Zippo.
"Still...have to keep up appearances for the sake of the men. Don't want them catching on to my little arrangement."
Pilton turned his attention back to PFC Cooper.
"Did you see LTC Long? Was he there?"
The young sniper shook his head.
"Negative sir...the Exiles that were there, the ones I saw...was Lt. Bradley, PVT. Davis, and SPC Mayfield...that is, Mayfield died by Prince Hans' hand."
"Interesting..." Pilton again turned to address the audience. "In my timeline, those men all sided with Konrad, and were killed by Captain Walker in the playth...I mean in the events that unfolded in Dubai."
The captain glanced back at his men.
"And it is a tragedy about Mayfield. He was a good kid, and a fine soldier...Crosby had personally selected him to be in Zulu Squad."
Captain Pilton turned his attention back to the audience.
"I really don't give a shit about Elsa or Ana or this story, I was hoping that Long would have been foolish enough to have led this little operation from the front, and that my men could have bagged him clean and gotten away."
He took a final drag from his cigarette.
"After that, Prince Hans could have taken Elsa and the rest of the story could have played out as before..."
The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out the challenge coin, turning it over in his hands. He then gave an aside.
"But that was askin' for too much. I don't know about you but I'm not willing to dedicate Kilo Company's resources to interfering with this story unless it brings me closer to Long."
Pilton tossed aside his butt and put the coin back in his pocket.
"Time to address the men, and unfortunately Prince Hans isn't going to like what I have to say."
He paused and gave a small but evil smile.
"If you're squeamish you might want to skip over to the Exile's part now."
The leader of Kilo Company signaled over to 1SG Dossler.
"Sergeant, gather the men for a debriefing."
The Interrogator nodded once and barked out an order.
"Kilo Company! Front and Center!"
The elements of the 'Damned' immediately congregated around Pilton, with their weapons ready standing at attention. Pilton nodded.
"As you were."
The men stood at parade rest, but their weapons still at the ready.
"Gentlemen, this mission to acquire the Snow Witch may have been a failure, but we did gain something from that shit-show. Thanks to Whopper Junior we have credible intel that LTC Long is in country and within our grasp."
This brought murmurs of assent from the assembled soldiers, but Pilton held up a hand.
"This mission is evolving, but ultimately remains the same. Long is not alone, he has at least three or more Exiles with him, and some of them you might remember from Dubai."
Pilton saw some of the elements of Kilo Company exchange glances, and he knew what was going through their heads. Unwelcome memories of the Mutiny.
"Just so we are clear, these Exiles are not target, Long is."
He turned his attention to Dossler.
"I want to make this perfectly clear, for the remainder of this mission deadly force is not authorized unless in self-defense. Every effort is to be made to bring Lieutenant Colonel Long in alive."
SFC Barnes spoke up in a low growl like a tiger rumbling.
"What about the rest of the Exiles, sir?"
"Do not engage unless they shoot first, and even then ROE applies. Do not shoot to kill, we're not savages after all."
That brought a round of chuckles from the soldiers.
"Now then, stage one will be to start sending out scouting parties to pinpoint Long and his Exiles' exact location-"
"Wait!"
Pilton turned to see Prince Hans, standing up and shrugging off Perkins' hold on him. The prince strode up to the leader of the 'Damned', glaring at the officer.
"We had a deal! You were to help me get rid of the snow witch and help me get on the throne!"
Captain Pilton glanced over at the audience.
"Well, Prince Pussy finally grew a pair. Pity he didn't grow `em when it would've meant something."
He reached turned to address the prince.
"Sorry, your highness," Pilton inflected the honorific dripping with sarcasm, "...but our deal was simple, I was going to provide you with the location of the snow witch's lair, our intel indicated that her younger sister was there so you could kill two birds with one stone..."
Pilton paused as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of smokes.
"S'not our fault neither Princess Ana nor Elsa decided to stick with the script."
He tapped out a cigarette and lit it. The 'Damned' leader exhaled a cloud of smoke into Hans' face, causing the prince to cough.
"And, for the record, you promised to put LTC Long into my crosshairs, which that hasn't happened either."
Prince Hans shook his head furiously.
"You didn't tell me that he had company!"
Pilton gave the prince an evil smile.
"What, you thought he was going to go into this world unarmed and by himself? Don't be an idiot."
The leader of the 'Damned' took another drag.
"My point is, you were supposed to deliver me Long, or at least credible intel as to his whereabouts. Which you didn't. Your bunch of pissant cub scouts-"
He gestured over to the wounded men.
"-failed in their mission, they had the Exiles outnumbered and still got their asses handed to them."
Hans glared at Pilton.
"Don't cheapen the sacrifices of my men! They were the best of the best from my kingdom!"
"Then next time hire competent help..."
Pilton pushed past Prince Hans, puffing on his cigarette.
"...Consider our little partnership concluded."
He looked up at Dossler.
"We're done here, get the men to mount up, we leave in five mikes."
The Interrogator nodded.
(Two hours later, Oaken's Trading Post, 0815 hours local time)
The next morning PFC Gobbi woke up to find the place deserted. There was a full breakfast set on the table in the common room, but no sign of Oaken. The soldier made his way to the front where the store was, and saw the sun reflecting off the snow. When he opened the door, he saw a large sled laden down with furniture and children of various ages. He saw the trading post's owner was in the process of securing a large trunk to the sides.
"What gives?"
Oaken gave a frightened yelp and spun around, cringing from Gobbi, even though he was a good head and a half taller than the private.
"Oh-ah-er, I'm off to visit my mother, yes she's sick, very very sick, and must take all the children in case she doesn't make it!'
Gobbi was dumbfounded.
"What about the store?"
Oaken shrugged.
"I've closed it for the winter-er summer! No customers, so easy to close! Keep an eye on it while I'm gone, yes?"
The large man mounted the driver's seat of his sled , then let out his trademarked yodel as he cracked the whip.
Gobbi still stood there dumbfounded, until he heard a voice.
"Hey, Whiskey Tango! You want any coffee before the brass hoover it up?"
He turned and saw Torrez in the doorway, holding a ceramic coffee cup he had 'liberated' while chasing Aladdin in Agabrah. The private grinned and lowered his voice, imitating Wolfe's gruff voice.
"Who gave you leave to slurp go-juice out of my own coffee cup, you ugly-ass skunkshit?"
Torrez chuckled.
"Your go-juice cup? I didn't see your name on the cup or the coffee pot. Unless your name's Private Hillbilly."
He looked down at the cup.
"And if I'd known this was your cup I should have gotten a penicillin shot first."
Torrez also lowered his voice, mimicked Wolfe's voice.
"Ah thought ah told ya to po-lease them cunt hairs on yer face, pri'at!"
Gobbi laughed and played along.
"Sar'ent, Ah thought ah told ya shave them moo-stache hairs off, by 0900 I want clean upper lips on all y'all!"
A gruff voice spoke up behind them.
"IF you two fucksticks don't stop screwing around I'm going to plant my foot up each of your asses and wear you like a couple of retarded flip-flops!"
Both soldiers turned and saw SGM Wolfe standing there in his ACU's with his normal dour expression. The sergeant major's eyes flicked over to Torrez.
"And Sar'ent Torrez, unless you've gotten a battlefield promotion without my knowledge you will eighty-six undermining the chain of command."
"Hey, Gobbi was imitating you too!"
"Yeah, but I didn't hear him, I did hear you..."
He muttered to himself.
"...and I don't even sound like that..."
Wolfe glanced outside and saw the tracks made by Oaken's sleigh.
What's up?"
Gobbi jerked a thumb at the two tracks left by the sled.
"The big guy just made tracks with his kids and all worldly possessions. What gives?"
Torrez shrugged.
"Oh, that. Well we kinda made a dramatic entrance coming in hot after the op late last night, and the big guy got spooked."
Wolfe rolled his eyes.
"Oh, shit. You didn't show him the `Hawk, did you?"
Torrez shrugged innocently.
"Well, it was more a case of he happened to be awake when we landed. After we evac'd the HVP inside the big guy was in hysterics, going on about 'metal dragons and sorcerers with weapons that spat fire'.'"
The younger sergeant took another sip from his coffee.
"I didn't think he'd up and leave because of it, still..."
He gestured to the trading post.
"At least now we have a home base, right?"
Wolfe shook his head and for a moment there was silence except for the fire crackling in the main hall's fireplace. Then a log cracked, and finally the sergeant major broke the silence.
"What the fuck happened out there, sar'ent?"
Torrez finished off his mug and stared into the dregs at the bottom. An uncharacteristic frown creased his tanned features.
"We lost Mayfield, an' Bradley lost his shit...he gave the order to go cleared hot, lifted ROE and shoot to kill."
SGM Wolfe closed his eyes and muttered a curse under his breathe.
"I knew this shit would happen."
He looked back up at Torrez, who looked like he was about to apologize.
"Don't. You didn't do anything wrong, sar'ent. Orders are orders."
The older NCO nodded to the table where Gobbi was already eating from a heaping plate of breakfast on the far end, oblivious to the NCO's conversation.
"Get the rest of men up and have `em get some chow, and after you're finished stuffing your faces rouse the colonel."
The sergeant major glanced down a hallway where the guest rooms were.
"By that point Lt. Bradley should be up, and he's got some explainin' to do..."
Elsa sat bolt upright, stifling a scream. She had thought that there was nothing worse than the nightmares that she had endured in the nights after news of her parent's death, which used to be so vivid and chock full of disturbing images. But this past night, her dreams had no images, but were full of loud explosions and horrid smells. Her ears were still ringing from the explosive bark of the Outworlder's guns, along with their acrid chemical smell, the stench of death and the coppery scent of blood. As her eyes focused she saw that she was in a bed, specifically in bed, in a small but cozy room with rough timber walls. Then it came back to her, Elsa remembered her rescue by the Outworlders, this must be their hideout. Her gaze fell on her hands, still clutching a dark blue duvet, she was still staring at her hands when a loud knock caused her to jump. A familiar voice spoke through the door.
"Elsa? Its Lt. Bradley..."
The queen of Arendelle pushed aside the covers and sat up, noting that she was not wearing anything. In a panic her eyes darted across the room, her gaze fell onto a dressing gown draped on a chair by the bed. She called out.
"Just a minute!"
Hastily she got out of bed and pulled the dressing gown over her naked body. Tying the belt securely, she called out again.
"Alright, you can come in!"
The door opened, revealing the handsome young officer carrying a tray with a bowl and steaming mug. Bradley gave a sheepish grin.
"Though you might be hungry. I also got you some hot tea."
He set the tray on the bed, and turned to face Elsa. The young Exiles officer took in the sight of the snow witch, even disheveled she was beautiful. She smiled at him.
"Thank you!"
Bradley reached into the pocket of his ACU blouse, pulling out a dark brown packet.
"I also thought you might want this-"
He scarcely was able to finish before Elsa snatched the chocolate bar from his hands. She unwrapped it, smiling at him.
"You know me all too well, Eric."
She took a bite.
"You know, I never did thank you for the first chocolate bar. Or for saving my life."
Bradley shrugged.
"Well, it's all part of the mission."
He picked up the steaming mug of tea and offered it to her.
"You should drink something, it's a nice herbal blend."
Elsa wiped away a small smudge of chocolate from her mouth and reached out to accept the teacup. As she took the mug, her hand grazed Bradley's, and she was shocked at how warm it was. She took a small sip from the tea, but then her eyes widened. Dropping both the tea and the half-eating chocolate bar, she reached out and took both of the young officer's hands in hers, and let out a triumphant squeal.
"Eric look!"
Bradley looked down at her hands, puzzled.
"Umm, yeah?"
Elsa continued, undeterred.
"My magic! It's back under control!"
She reached up to touch Bradley's face. His cheek felt soft and warm in her palm.
"You see, before I couldn't even touch my own flesh and blood, without the fear of possibly freezing them!"
Then Elsa did something that shocked both her and Bradley. She pulled the young officer in close and kissed him. For a long moment Bradley just tasted the sweet nectar of her lips and mouth, but pulled away, flushing a bright pink.
"Ah, thanks! That was…er, nice!"
The lieutenant watched as Elsa bit her lower lip and tugged on the belt that held her dressing gown together. He tried to take a step back, but found his feet were leaden and unresponsive.
"I, ah, should go, let you recuperate…I need to debrief – I mean the men!"
The lieutenant reached behind him and found the doorknob. But it wouldn't turn. It also felt very cold in his grip, and he glanced down, noticing that it was encased in ice. Bradley looked back up and saw Elsa, holding up her hand with a bit of snow conjured in her palm. She smiled sweetly.
"You and I have some unfinished business, Eric."
She tugged the collar of her robe, and it came off and slipped to the floor, revealing her naked body.
"...a true officer and gentleman doesn't get a lady, especially a queen, hot and bothered and then leave..."
(AN: So I'm a but of a jackass for leaving it here, but as I've said before, I suck at lemons, and this seemed to be a good stop-off for this chapter. I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out but I promise that the next chapter, which should be the finale, will be done much sooner. Let me know what everyone thinks, and while you're at it check out my new story An Officer and a Witchling, which is a Harry Potter crossover.
Until next time, à bientôt!)